River Cities Strikes A Chord With The Future

December 20, 1992|By Ann Piccininni.

It is one of Jerry Elder`s fondest wishes that, in the year 2000, he and his contemporaries will reminisce about the days when the River Cities Philharmonic was a fledgling cultural icon in the southwest suburban area.

By then the group of professional musicians, culled from such prestigious and world-renowned organizations as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, will have spent eight years bringing the compositions of Bach, Brahms and Beethoven alive for a population geographically removed from the diverse cultural vitality of Chicago.

``This is our dream,`` said Elder, president of the River Cities Philharmonic Association, the fundraising and publicity-generating

organization behind the newly formed orchestra.

Accompanied by a dedicated clique of classical music devotees who make up the association`s all-volunteer membership, Elder has striven to make that dream the stuff of reality.

Last May, the River Cities Philharmonic made its debut performance. Suzanne Bobinsky, an association board member and director of the Heritage Corridor Visitors Bureau, said 1,500 tickets were sold for that first performance at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet.

``These people were really thrilled. We made a profit on our first concert because people were so thrilled,`` said Joyce Dawe, the association`s executive director, whose husband, Jay Friedman, is the orchestra`s conductor. Dawe said 70 subscriptions to a fall, winter and spring series were sold that night.

``It was beyond all our dreams,`` said Elder, who had the opportunity to address the audience. ``I told everyone, `This is our field of dreams. This is the birth of a new symphony orchestra.` My wife and I have been talking about doing something like this for five, six, or seven years . . . because we wanted to give something to the area we all live in.``

Since then, the association`s board has met weekly to plan the orchestra`s continued viability. Combining an unknown entity with the economically tenuous circumstances surrounding almost any venture in the `90s has made for an uphill battle, Elder admits.

``We have to raise money from people like us (who are classical music fans). These are not good times. Many symphonies are falling by the wayside. Many community theaters are falling by the wayside,`` Elder said.

``We have to raise the level of awareness of the region that there is a symphonic orchestra in the region. It`s an ongoing job of raising the level of awareness,`` said Bobinsky. ``For this to be a fixture in the community it`ll become easier in a year or two. But we`ll be continuously after money, year after year.``

It`s not only the rental of a hall such as the Rialto that presents a financial obstacle to concert production. It`s also compensation for accomplished musicians that makes a River Cities Philharmonic concert a costly venture, Bobinsky said. The 65 musicians are each paid $185 for attending two rehearsals and a concert performance.

``These are professional musicians; it`s their vocation,`` she said. Many of the orchestra`s musicians regularly perform with other area symphony orchestras, including the CSO. Friedman, the River Cities Philharmonic`s conductor, teaches the trombone section of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and is the CSO`s principal trombonist.

Bobinsky said it is the rule, rather than the exception, for symphonies to largely depend for their financing on donations and contributions, in addition to ticket sales.

``We need to raise $30,000 to $40,000 for the first series, over and above ticket sales,`` said Karen Wunderlich, secretary of the association`s board of directors.

Alas, the Nov. 15 concert planned to kick off a three-concert series was postponed to Jan. 10 after a November association board meeting determined that a dearth of advance ticket sales left too much to chance, including the future of the philharmonic.

``You hate to see your dreams put off,`` said Elder. ``It became apparent to us that if we went ahead, the financial loss might be too crushing for us.``

Despite the discouraging setback, the association`s volunteer forces plan to press forward. If anything, the November concert`s postponement has marshalled their enthusiam and fortified their belief that this is a project worth propelling into self-sustained longevity.

``It`s difficult. The climate`s kind of tough right now. The biggest thing is making people aware of what we`re trying to do. Our biggest problem is exposure,`` said Wunderlich.

And it`s up to the volunteers to get the funding and the exposure.

``We`re really in our infancy. It`s beginning to gain some momentum. People I`ve talked to in the community are aware of us,`` said Marylynn Buchar Pius, who recently signed on as chairman of chapter development.